Some Burton residents still unhappy over prostitutes roaming South Dort Highway

BURTON, Michigan -- Ingrid Lutze recalls fondly a campaign waged by her neighbors to keep prostitutes out of her neighborhood on Burton's north side two years ago.

She said the campaign was effective because residents of the neighborhood near Dort and Hemphill roads took the problem head on.

"We know what you are, we know what you do and we don't want you in our neighborhood," said Lutze, who said she is still concerned about the amount of prostitution she sees up and down Dort Highway from Flint south into Burton.

Jennifer Morquecho, who lives near Lutze on Red Arrow road, believes that much of the remaining activity happens near Crank's Motel in Burton, on the southeast corner of Dort and Hemphill.

"It brings the whole reputation of our neighborhood down," said Morquecho, who has been "flashed" by prostitutes on several occasions. "It makes us look like trash."

Henry Patel, son of Crank's owner, Danny Patel, said he hasn't received any complaints from residents nor did he have any knowledge of being contacted by police regarding prostitution in the area.

"We know of a couple people, so we don't rent to them," said Patel, who admitted to seeing a lot of that kind of activity, mostly in the evening and north of the motel. "We know the troublemakers..."

William Francis, 63, lives on Menominee just west of Dort and said he has seen the police at Crank's regularly. Francis said that he hasn't yet seen an increase in prostitution this summer, a sentiment echoed by Burton Police Chief John Benthall.

"There's been prostitution on Dort (Highway) since time began," Benthall said. "We do active enforcement to keep it down ... in many areas we've seen a decrease."

Benthall says that officers in his department have talked to the owners of Crank's several times and said they have worked with the police.

"Crank's should know if the same people are renting over and over again, they know -- they get the idea," she said. "It could be stopped, but it's up to those owners..."

LT. Thomas Osterholzer, of the Burton Police, says that prostitute remains an issue in the city because, in most cases, officers can't take them off the streets.

"There's nothing you can do but give them another ticket," said Osterholzer, who believes that sting operations coordinated by the Genesee County Sheriff's Department, however infrequent, have proven effective. "It's frustrating ... if we could lodge them (in jail), it would be cut down dramatically."

Benthall, who spent time working on the vice squad with the Flint Police, once arrested the same woman five times in one night.

Morquecho said the problem is year-round and believes that more needs to be done to clean-up the neighborhood.

"When my sister comes in from Illinois, she says 'Jen, where do you live? What kind of city do you live in? You have hookers on your street," she said. "What's the first thing you want to see in your city? Is it prostitutes?"

Morquecho said there was a man on her street who was serviced by prostitutes before being confronted by neighbors.

"We advised him not to," she said. "He's a nice neighbor, so he took that elsewhere."

Benthall said that where there's prostitution, there's almost always drugs which are often accompanied by violent crime.

"Prostitution has a way of filtering back into larger criminal problems," he said.

Still, Benthall believes that some in the community exaggerate the extent of the problem.

"There is prostitution, but it's not out of control," he said. "It's an issue, but it's something we can handle."